During our summer trip to the US, Grandma somehow got Nyan to help out on any number of household chores. Like loading the dishwasher:
And watering the plants:
Also washing out some old planting pots, for some reason.
Obviously he’s having a blast there. Maybe that’s the key to chore-doing. He certianly enjoyed baking:
And sewing too:
Now if we can just get him to clean up his toys without being asked…
This is how we spent our New Year’s Day morning: cooking ice cream using the humidifier, and learning about steam. Except our boy already knew about steam: when I explained what it was, he instantly made the connection between steam and trains. How did he learn that?? How does he learn a lot of what he knows, for that matter? We think he may sneak onto our computers and read random articles on Wikipedia when we’re not looking. Would explain a lot.
Anyway, here’s Nyan being Nyan. And cooking ice cream.
Our boy always wants to do whatever anyone else is doing. It’s a wonderful trait to have, we think, and results in all sorts of adorable moments. Like the time last month when Grandma and Grandpa were doing the dishes. Nyan Thomas insisted on slapping on a pair of purple gloves and joining in.
On our return to London, he want to Phwa Phwa’s house and almost immediately insisted on helping her with the dishes too:
He also likes to help vacuum, hang laundry out to dry, cook, make the bed, pretty much any chore aside from putting away his own toys (although we’re working on that and he’s getting better!). We wonder at what age he’ll start to think that chores actually aren’t that much fun. ‘Til then, we’ll have him help as much as we can!
Oh the things we do on weekends to make sure our little man is tuckered out by the end of the day. One of his (our) favorite things is to run little laps around the house, oftentimes yelling and shouting. Like here.
Of course, he’s pretty easily distracted, by his toy truck or the overhead light. But, we’re happy to report, this running around does the trick and makes bedtime much easier!
Long-time visitors of this blog – and we have one or two – may recall some videos from way back in the day that showed young Nyan Thomas getting extremely excited every time we’d turn on the vacuum cleaner (a.k.a. hoover, for our British readers). Well, tonight he took it to a new level:
Yes, while we were vacuuming up the kitchen floor – where someone, not naming names here, had thrown a bunch of noodles and other food bits — Nyan cried out “Help! Help!” That doesn’t mean he needed help; that means he wanted to help. The kid’s got skills! Now if we can only teach him how to unload the dishwasher. (Actually, he does try to do that, every time the dishwasher is open. Sadly, we can’t let him do that, what with the knives and all. Maybe someday.)
Just a collection of recent videos. First up, the boy playing with his mobile phone, which sometimes says ‘Uh oh’ which makes Nyan say…. well, just watch it:
Hanging out in the hallway, reading and running around, pressing his face into the wallpaper. What?
This is how we handle the paparazzi in this family:
And, playtime, including reading and learning the concept of ‘open’ and ‘closed’:
From a few weeks back, a slice of life at home: first Nyan helps Mommy unload the dishwasher; then he helps Daddy carry the groceries into the kitchen. Such a helpful little guy.
And just to prove that it’s not all toil and trouble ’round these parts, here we are after the chores are done, with Mommy singing and reading to the boy – fair pay for a hard day’s work, I’d say.
We’ve got a few House Rules here at Nyan Thomas World Headquarters. Three, in fact. And House Rule Number Three is: Teamwork. This weekend, our boy showed that he’s definitely got House Rule Number Three down pat. Here he is, helping to unload the groceries.
(The challenge will be, of course, keeping him a believer in House Rule Number Three when he gets to be a little older… but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it…)
In which our hero shows his love for housework… or at least shows off his (rather odd) deep affection for the vacuum cleaner. He loves the darn thing. Without fail, when the vacuum goes on, the kid starts screeching – not in terror, but in pleasure. Hey, whatever makes him happy…
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